True Rep

TrueRep represents a new category of personal analytics
within online reputation management. It aims to give you fine-grained awareness
and control of public information about you. Your reputation lies at the
intersection of the public information available about you and how others
perceive that information. You have little say over the latter. But you should
be the first to know about your own public information, not the last. The idea
behind TrueRep is to give you this awareness and control.

Beyond
just detailing the virtues of TrueRep, I thought it might be interesting, for
the more privacy wonkish among us, to discuss a de facto stab at Privacy by Design. It
turns out that “the community” both inside and outside Intelius had (and is
having) a profound influence on TrueRep. So, here’s a glimpse of the TrueRep
story so far.

I Can See Myself

A key
confirmation of the TrueRep vision came while I was attending a PrivacyCampunconference
in May 2010. After the day’s work of exploring privacy technology, data
portability, and privacy rights, we adjourned for happy hour (and more
discussion of privacy technology, data portability, and privacy rights).

Over a
happy hour beer, I got to talking to Sally
Applin, a senior UX designer and social anthropologist. Years ago,
Sally noticed
that successful software products seemed to contain a combination of “voyeurism
and narcissism,” as people not only liked to look at others, but at themselves
as well. As she explained this to me, Sally observed that the products from
Intelius seemed to be more voyeuristic — and had little appeal to those who
were narcissistic and wanted to look at their own data. I think her comment ran
along the lines of (and I’m paraphrasing), “Why does it cost me 50 bucks to see
my own background check?” Touché, point taken.

Self-awareness
of your own information is important. TrueRep offers a look at your own
background check summary including address history, criminal records, and
civil suits.

In
discussing what Intelius could do to better serve Cindy’s at-risk community,
she pointedly asked “How about getting my women out of your data?” Point taken,
and we got to work on Cindy’s request.

As we
began to work through the details, challenges emerged. Victims of domestic
violence generally don’t like to be on any list for any reason, and
distribution of login PIN codes proved unwieldy to a network of hundreds of
local shelters. Cindy suggested that it would be best to simply allow
removal of the latest contact information with, of course, no indication that
anything was removed. Quite brilliant.

The latest
contact suppression feature has three advantages. First and foremost, it
provides more safety because, without the latest contact info, the address
trail runs cold, frustrating any stalking offender. Second, a full opt-out
removal from the Intelius people search results would just force the offender
to a competitive website to satisfy their search. Lastly (which elated the
product guys), since this feature is offered to all users, it lives within the
main product roadmap and doesn’t require any special product maintenance. The latest
contact suppression feature is now offered to all TrueRep users and available
under the TrueRep Privacy tab.

A Voice in the Wilderness

A
friend of mine has a “criminal tresspassing” charge on his background check. He
asked me if we could modify the offense description on his background check
because it sounds pretty bad. It could be interpreted as something quite
serious, like breaking-and-entering. As it turns out, he hopped the fence at a
Rolling Stones show in the mid eighties. I told him we couldn’t change the
description from how the county reports it. In exasperation he said, “It’s my
report. Why can’t I have my side of the story heard?” Point taken.

TrueRep
Remarks lets you weigh in on the records in your background check. So, when
anyone pulls my friend’s rap sheet they’ll also see his take on a regrettable,
but teachable moment, from his adolescent past. We’ve all got ‘em.

Takeaways

I
think a key lesson to be drawn from the TrueRep product arc is that you can
learn from everyone — your customers, colleagues, friends, academics,
advocates, regulators, and even your toughest critics. On the frontier where
social media meets real life, you grab wisdom wherever you can find it.

TrueRep
is just getting started, but this 360-degree, personal analytics view of your
own public information is profoundly important. It gives you a view on how
others view you. It forms the basis of reputation. It’s the reality check we’ve
used for millennia to build trusted relationships. In many ways, it’s what
makes us human